The Shift from Manual Craft to Orchestration

Pablo Stanley, a staff designer at Vercel, reflects on a fundamental change in his creative process. He observes that modern design work is shifting from direct manipulation—manually drawing rectangles or writing code—to a role he describes as "orchestration." In this new paradigm, the designer acts more like a manager or director, guiding AI agents to execute tasks. Stanley admits this transition has triggered a personal crisis: he worries that by delegating the "how" of creation to AI, he risks losing the tactile connection to his work that previously defined his identity as a designer.

The Danger of Over-Delegation

Stanley warns that there is a significant danger in over-relying on AI tools. He notes that when we delegate too much, we stop forcing ourselves to think through the problem, which can lead to a decline in skill and creative depth. He shares an anecdote about building his tool Efecto, where he initially tried to force an LLM to understand 3D space and complex layouts. He spent weeks in a "black void" of frustration before realizing he was forcing the AI to work in a way that didn't align with its strengths. The lesson, he suggests, is knowing when to stop pushing against a wall and pivot to a more natural workflow—in his case, moving from complex 3D shaders back to standard HTML/Tailwind, which the LLM understood natively.

Collaborative AI and the 'Black Void' Problem

Stanley critiques the current state of AI collaboration, which he describes as isolating. Designers often work in silos, taking a prompt to a terminal, generating code, and then presenting it to a team as if they created it themselves. To solve this, he developed hilos, a team chat tool that integrates AI agents directly into the conversation. By bringing agents into the shared workspace, the team can review, reject, or approve code in real-time, turning the AI into a visible participant rather than a hidden, isolated engine. This approach aims to make the collaborative process more transparent and human-centric.

Historical Parallels in Creativity

To reconcile his feelings about not "making" things with his own hands, Stanley looks to art history. He notes that many legendary artists, such as Diego Rivera, did not paint their own murals; they directed teams of students to execute their vision. This provides a mental model for the modern designer: the value lies in the creative direction, the taste, and the intent, rather than the physical act of execution. However, he maintains that designers must remain vigilant, ensuring they are still the ones making the critical decisions rather than letting the AI dictate the outcome.

Key Takeaways

  • Avoid the 'Black Void': Don't work in isolation with AI. Bring agents into your team's communication channels to keep the process collaborative and transparent.
  • Know When to Pivot: If you find yourself fighting an AI to make it understand a complex, non-standard workflow, stop. Simplify your approach to use the language the model understands natively.
  • Maintain Creative Agency: Use AI to magnify your curiosity and expand your ideas, but never delegate the core thinking or decision-making process.
  • Dogfood Your Tools: If you are building creative tools, use them to build your own work. If you find yourself reaching for other tools (like Excalidraw or Tldraw), it’s a signal that your tool isn't solving your actual problem.
  • Orchestration is a Skill: Embrace the role of the director. Managing AI agents requires a different part of the brain, focusing on taste, intent, and review rather than manual execution.

Notable Quotes

  • "There is a danger in using these tools I think because if we delegate too much of to it we're not forcing ourselves to think."
  • "I don't design like this anymore. I use the canvas to draw to make my comics to do hand-drawn stuff... my actual work is happening in the terminal and it's happening with these agents."
  • "I think a lot of our work is becoming more like an orchestrating manager... it's weird because I've been having this crisis where it's like is this even me? What is this if I'm not making it with my own hands?"
  • "My pre-prompt for everything is: 'Don't embarrass me in front of my engineering colleagues.'"